


a half-remembered dream

by windfalling



Category: Rune Factory (Video Games), Rune Factory 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 04:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3343358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windfalling/pseuds/windfalling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Time is not linear in the Forest of Beginnings.</i> Frey steps out into the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a half-remembered dream

**Author's Note:**

> for the rune factory valentine's week 2015.  
> initially written for the first day prompt of 'first meeting,' but is definitely alternate universe as well.

 

 

 

 

Time is not linear in the Forest of Beginnings.  

The Forest, it seems, exists in a different dimension entirely, and obeys no laws of nature but its own.

She learns this the hard way.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

The first time Frey meets him is not in a moment of blinding light and shaking earth, of a monster transforming into a man, of the world going white around her.

No, the first time they meet goes like this:

There is a woman, lying unconscious on the ground. 

The dragon priest, on a journey to a temple, kneels beside her. 

The Forest shifts around them.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Frey wakes in a violent convulsion of arms and legs, gasping for air. 

“Easy, there. You were hurt pretty badly.” A low voice, and a damp cloth moving across her forehead. 

Her eyes flicker wildly until they land on a man with long hair and eyes the colour of the ocean. She jerks back instinctively, her hand reaching for her blade—and finding nothing. 

“I won’t hurt you,” the man says, lifting his hands up, palms toward her. When she does not move, he says something else, but they are words she cannot understand. 

“I don’t—” she clears her throat, her voice coming out hoarse. “I don’t speak that language.”

“How about this?”

She nods, slowly relaxing her stance. “You aren’t a monster.”

The corner of his mouth quirks in a wry smile. “Well, that depends on your definition of it. But as you can see,” he spreads his arms, looking down at himself, “I’m human.”

Frey looks him over, turning red at his raised eyebrow. “But this is the Forest of Beginnings. I don’t understand.”

“The Forest of Beginnings?” The smile disappears from his face, and his sharp eyes focus on hers. “This isn’t the Forest.”

Her heart seizes. “What are you talking about? I was just in it. If this isn’t—I have to get back— _Venti_ —”

Seeing her long sword on a table across the room, she swings her legs off the bed and lunges for it, making it to the door before he is suddenly there, blocking her way. “Wait. Do you mean—”

She ducks under his arm, twists the doorknob, and runs.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

The land around her is horrifyingly familiar, but it is not the same.

There is something about the earth and the trees and the air that makes everything feel young and new. When she turns around, the cabin is gone—but there is a lake there, instead, and two people wading in the water.

There is a young girl, diving in and out of the water, laughing. And beside her—

The man from the cabin. 

Panic sets in her veins. The Forest can do strange things, she knows, but angry monsters and poisonous plants are one thing— _this_ is another.

“You’re really terrible at this, Leon,” the girl says. The man called Leon splashes playfully at her; she squeals and immediately retaliates. 

“I’d like to see you try, brat,” he grumbles, his voice warm despite his words.

Frey begins to back away. Just before she turns, he suddenly raises his head and looks straight at her.

She pivots fast and disappears into the trees.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

She keeps seeing him no matter where she runs.

Most times, it’s with the girl. On some occasions, he’s alone. But the Forest always brings her back to him.

It isn’t until she stops running that she finally understands.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one showing me this.”

“I am.”

Leon remains silent for a long moment. She follows the line of his gaze to symbols carved on the door of the temple. If she knew him better, if this were real, she might have asked him about it. But she doesn’t, and this isn’t, so she does not say anything at all.

“These are my memories,” he finally says, turning toward her. “My consciousness is linked with the Forest.”

“That time, at the cabin—”

“I stayed there overnight during one of the journeys I made here. When the Forest brought you there, my mind filled in the blanks.” 

“How do I get back? To the actual Forest, I mean.”

Some of the tension eases from his shoulders, and he gives her that almost-smile of his. “Eager to leave me so soon?”

She meets his gaze. “Only so I can find you.”

His eyes widen slightly in surprise. “Well,” he says, flushing.

Frey laughs. “I’m kidding. But not really—I actually do need to find you, so you can come back. And for Venti.” A pause. “She misses you, you know.”

He looks back at the carvings above the door. “Maybe it’s time to go home, then,” he says quietly. 

The world warps around her.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

He does not remember her, at first. She can see it in the guarded, confused way he looks at her, slowly awakening from centuries of slumber.

They have only seconds: she gives him her last message to Venti, and she says goodbye.

But in the last moment before the spell takes effect, there is a flicker of recognition in his narrowed eyes. “You—”

He vanishes.

The Forest is quiet.

She closes her eyes.

 


End file.
